It is neap tide time and Saturday Puget Sound was beautiful and sunny. Shane and I met Jock at Mukilteo to launch Jock's 24' RIB. >15 minutes after launching we were at the South end of Whidbey Island getting ready to anchor on the sand ledge above the dive site know as the Fingers.
The Fingers is a wall dive with limitless bottom for all practical purposes though the major structure is from 30' to 100'. There undercuts and cavelets on the face of the wall are home to a lot of creatures including GPO. We also saw a wolfeel and two very large Cabezon. Rock fish were everywhere as were schools of shiner perch and baitfish. One of my favorite parts of this dive was the time spent in 30' over a field of orange Sea Pens surrounded by shiner perch and bait fish.
The current can be a challenge at the Fingers but Saturday with the neap tides it was slack everywhere. But the best part was the tropical quality viz!!! It was just outstanding. Often during the summer months we have thick 10' deep plankton blooms filtering out the sunlight but not Saturday. The viz was a good 60'~70' with a lot of light at 100'.
The next dive was the Possession Head Ferry... a wooden structure that while breaking up badly and dangerous underneath the overhangs is still interesting structurally (engines, ect.) and has matured as an eco system to the point it is covered with life. Huge ling cod patrol the bowels while white and orange plumose anenomies cover the upper surfaces. Viz was excellent here as well. Outside the wreck we found a medium sized (~35#) GPO out in the open and were able to interact with it for a while.
Sunday afternoon we repeated the Fingers dive but the current was moving along at a good clip near the surface and the viz had begun to drop... still excellent for Puget Sound but not as good as the previous day.
After the Fingers we motored over to Hat Island to do the South end reef system. The wind was picking up out of the Northwest and a small chop was setting up. Still we made the dive, again spotting GPO and the usual denizens.
Saturday
100' max 70 minute (wall dive unlimited bottom)
2 hour SI
77' max 63 minute (wreck dive with hard bottom 80')
Sunday
101' max 50 minute (wall dive unlimited bottom)
2 hour SI
48' max 50 minute (reef dive with hard bottom 50')
All dives were multileveled using EAN32.
Here is portion of the chart that shows the Fingers and the Ferry. The Fingers are represented by the convoluted lines on the Southeast end of Possession Point and the Ferry is show as a blue box labelled Fish Haven. The chart shows bouys on each end of the Ferry but they have been gone for many years. Depths are in fathoms... which means it is ~600' deep at the bottom of the Fingers.
The Fingers is a wall dive with limitless bottom for all practical purposes though the major structure is from 30' to 100'. There undercuts and cavelets on the face of the wall are home to a lot of creatures including GPO. We also saw a wolfeel and two very large Cabezon. Rock fish were everywhere as were schools of shiner perch and baitfish. One of my favorite parts of this dive was the time spent in 30' over a field of orange Sea Pens surrounded by shiner perch and bait fish.
The current can be a challenge at the Fingers but Saturday with the neap tides it was slack everywhere. But the best part was the tropical quality viz!!! It was just outstanding. Often during the summer months we have thick 10' deep plankton blooms filtering out the sunlight but not Saturday. The viz was a good 60'~70' with a lot of light at 100'.
The next dive was the Possession Head Ferry... a wooden structure that while breaking up badly and dangerous underneath the overhangs is still interesting structurally (engines, ect.) and has matured as an eco system to the point it is covered with life. Huge ling cod patrol the bowels while white and orange plumose anenomies cover the upper surfaces. Viz was excellent here as well. Outside the wreck we found a medium sized (~35#) GPO out in the open and were able to interact with it for a while.
Sunday afternoon we repeated the Fingers dive but the current was moving along at a good clip near the surface and the viz had begun to drop... still excellent for Puget Sound but not as good as the previous day.
After the Fingers we motored over to Hat Island to do the South end reef system. The wind was picking up out of the Northwest and a small chop was setting up. Still we made the dive, again spotting GPO and the usual denizens.
Saturday
100' max 70 minute (wall dive unlimited bottom)
2 hour SI
77' max 63 minute (wreck dive with hard bottom 80')
Sunday
101' max 50 minute (wall dive unlimited bottom)
2 hour SI
48' max 50 minute (reef dive with hard bottom 50')
All dives were multileveled using EAN32.
Here is portion of the chart that shows the Fingers and the Ferry. The Fingers are represented by the convoluted lines on the Southeast end of Possession Point and the Ferry is show as a blue box labelled Fish Haven. The chart shows bouys on each end of the Ferry but they have been gone for many years. Depths are in fathoms... which means it is ~600' deep at the bottom of the Fingers.
